Class of 1966 Reunion

Yesterday, at the Class of 1966 Reunion, I felt nothing but gratitude.
To have made it this far.
To know what I know.
To know what I don't.
To love the folks I love.
And to be loved of them.

Along the way, a lot of friends.
Friends for a bit of time.
Friends for all the years.
Friends forgotten.
Friendship renewed.

Couldn't recognize anyone.
But take a few moments and some chat.
It's the eyes that are the same.
And the smile.
And like wiping a fogged mirror.
Yesterday's image appears.

On the back of the program.
A list.
Of those no longer here.
It's sad, for sure.
My throat clinched.

At the Commencement,
We sang.
Several thousand of us sang.
"This Is My Father's World" ...
I choked a few times.

Thanks to Calvin College for putting it all together.
Not a beat was missed.
Choreographed with kindness.
Memories, laughter, and the steady beat of love.
And the gracious reminders of something divine.

We are not alone in this life.
Nor are we our own.
But we belong.
To a gracious God.
Now, and forevermore.

It's been a remarkable weekend.
Gratitude running deep.
Love all around.
Thanksgiving for what has been.
The courage to live, here and now.
Hope for what shall be.
And that's the way it is for me.
Of the Class of 1966.

Saw God this Morning ...

Walked right on by God this morning.
Working a jackhammer.
Breaking up old cement.
She was wearing a yellow hard hat.

I'm glad I saw God this morning.
Doesn't always happen, so
That I notice.
Have to pay more attention to yellow hard hats.

Where Is God?

Where is God?

There is a huge difference
Between "Here" and
"There"!

Religion, at its worst,
Says, "Here"!
"Here is God."
"Here and now."
In our systems.
Our preaching.
Our music.
Our books.

Religion, at its best,
Says, "There"!
"There is God."
Not in our systems, but
In our yearning.
Not in our preaching, but
In our striving to speak.
Not in our music, but
In the upwelling of the heart.
Not in our books, but
In our wrestling with words.

Religion tempted to remove the Distance
Between Here and There.
Is deadly.
Destructive.
Of reality.

Because God is always There.
First.
Before God is always Here.
Only then.

If we begin There,
We never make Here the
Idol of our thoughts and
Systems.
We never grow too confident.
That we have god tucked away in our
Pocket or purse.

A god who is always Here,
Is a god of our own making.
Comfortable.
Predictable.
Manageable.
Useable.

But a god who is always There,
Becomes and is, the
God of challenge.
Not always comfortable.
Beyond predictable.
Never manageable.
Refusing to be used.

The God who is always There.
Is Here, too.
But the God who is Here.
Dances away from our hands.
Tells us: "Don't hold on to me."

"Let me go."
And then,
"Follow me."

Sometimes We Get Along, Sometimes Not

It doesn't take long in the #PCUSA to see what a diverse group we are. Much of the time, we manage to get along; some of the time, we don't.

Diversity pushes and pulls us, and sometimes pushes or pulls us beyond where we're comfortable ... and sometimes challenges us to rethink, to reconsider, review those things we deem "essentials."

We love to quote authorities, and, of course, THE Authority, Scripture, but even that seems to fail us finally, leaving us without resolve, and all those pesky Bible verses that refuse to fit into our otherwise neat and tidy systems.

If we take sin seriously (as Presbyterians, we have too!), then we're stuck with a curious kind of humility toward one another, and toward those views that either challenge us or strike us as even heretical.

We'd all like to claim that "our system, our version of things, our take on God and the Gospel, are bigger, brighter and better" than all the other competing versions.

But history refuses us such a claim.

All we can do, and humbly do, is put forth our view of things, and try to apply the best tools of scholarship and science, engaging in steady prayer and the practices of humility (often saying, "I don't know" or "I'm not sure"), bringing to bear upon our ideas the best of Christian scholarship, the vast and often contradictory traditions of the church, including hymnody, social justice practices over the centuries and the day-to-day learning from one another - in other words, all that God provides us in and through the church and the larger world.

In reality, we're mostly on target, and sometimes not.

Who can contain the whole counsel of God in any system of thought?

Who dares to say they comprehend the will and character and purpose of God throughout the ages?

If any of us muster the "telling Bible verse," someone else offers another verse.

So we serve one another best of all when we raise critical questions for one another, and provide ample room and time for one another to express his or her views.

If we come to the #PCUSA or to a particular congregation to have all of our a priori notions confirmed, we may well find a congregation that suits us perfectly, but not likely the entire denomination ... which is why some are so eager for schism - as if the balkanization of the church could lead to greater purity of thought. It never does, and never will. To seek purity at the expense of fellowship is to sacrifice the very purity so eagerly sought.

Anyway, much of the discussion here is thoughtful and kind ... God be praised.

Perhaps we might take Jesus at his word in John: "I am the way, the truth and the life" ... not Calvin or Knox or Kuyper, not the Book of Confessions or the Book of Order, neither Aquinas nor Barth, certainly not Jerry Falwell (God rest his soul) or James Dobson, nor Rob Bell or Max Lucado. But from all of them, we learn about Jesus, yet Jesus does us the favor of "walking through our midst," lest we crown him(John 6.15) or try to kill him (Luke 4.29).

Our systems are all approximations ... and we humbly bow down before the LORD of all ... honoring the Holy Spirit in each and every believer who utters the name of Jesus in faith, hope and love, fragmented as every heart is, with but a fragmentary grasp of Jesus, whose grasp upon us is sure and certain, unto the end of the age, and then some.

What Does God Love?

Heard this hymn on radio yesterday ...

Impacted me ...

The first verse ...

Breath on me, Breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love
What thou does love,
And do what
Thou wouldst do.

I've sung that hymn ten thousand times.

But yesterday, I heard the words.


That I may love what thou does love ...

And what is it that God loves?

And yesterday, it was Bible Study.

The first 5 Chapters of Isaiah.

What is it that God loves?

The justice proclaimed by Isaiah?

Help the oppressed.
     Defend the orphan.
          Plead for the widow.

Or the glorious Year of the Lord.
Proclaimed by Jesus in his home-town sermon?

And, then:


That I may do what thou wouldst do ...

And what is that God does?
     God creates and empowers?
          God saves and makes new?
               God raises the dead?
And makes life where none previously existed?

Is this what God does, among other things?

Isaiah offers it clear:

God will judge between the nations.
     And settle disputes
          Of mighty nations.


Then they will beat 
     Their swords into iron plows
          And their spears into pruning tools.
Nation will not take up sword
     Against nation:
          They will no longer learn how to make war.

Is this what God does?

Paul says, He's the one who comforts us in all our trouble.
So that we can comfort other people who are in every kind of trouble.
We offer the same comfort that we ourselves received from God.

I want the breath of God, for sure.
     I want life.
          For myself, my family, my friends.

Like Miss American, I want world peace and everyone to love one another.

But do I love what God loves?

Do I do what God does?

Big questions?

Yeah ... big questions.

And they hurt.

If I let them roll around in me, bumping up against my
     Carefully placed spiritual furniture.

Big questions, for sure.

They cry out for some answers.

How Does God Encounter Us?

How, then, does the wholly-other God encounter us? 

In the text, when carefully read?

In Jesus, when humbly contemplated?

In prayer, when surrender is the heart of it?

In worship, that seeks nothing for the self?

in life, that is moved by compassion?

In death, when we encounter the absolute limits of self?

in eternity, when we encounter the absolute infinity of God's love?

Don't Be Afraid

Never fear the grace of love to lead us aright along the byways and highways of life.

Love opens doors, and at first, like a child frightened of a stranger, an open door frightens us … for it’s a big world out there on the other side of the door, and it’s full of strange languages and cultures and people and needs … and most of all, filled with God.

Love always leads us to God in the strange and wonderful places of life.

And sometimes even dangerous places. We don’t live in a fairy-tale world; Jesus said to us, “Take up your cross.” But in the cross, we find Jesus; in the cross, we find grace; in the cross, we find the meaning and purpose of our life.

Love can be trusted.

Jesus trusted the Father’s love all the way to the cross. Yet even Jesus was afraid and questioned the faithfulness of God: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The open door frightened him, too.

But in the end, “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” In the end, God!

Jesus invites us to trust love and to walk through the open doors God sets before us – doorways that lead to engagement and service and sacrifice and love upon love, as we look around and discover God in front of us, behind us, beside us, above us, beneath us, and within us.

For there is nothing in all of this world, or the world to come, that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our LORD.

Sometimes I’m afraid of love.

Afraid of the commitment it requires, the changes it evokes and the challenges it offers.

But in commitment, in the changes wrought by the Spirit, and the challenges of faith, we discover communion with God.

Let us then, without fear, love God with every fiber of our being, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves … for therein, everything that counts is realized and fulfilled.

Indeed, a great love is our pathway through the open doors to wholeness and peace.

Tom